Obama calls Tim Howard, thanks him for 'defending' US at World Cup

US President Barack Obama has commended the National Football team for their performance and for making the country proud at the Brazil World Cup, the White House has said. Obama called team captain Clint Dempsey and goalkeeper Tim Howard yesterday. On the call, the President commended them not only for their work on the field, but for conducting themselves in a way that made the country proud. [caption id=“attachment_1600619” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Tim Howard as the next secretary of defence?[/caption] The President noted how captivating the team’s performance was and asked both men to relay his congratulations to Coach Klinsmann and the entire team on their hard work," the White House said. The US Secretary of Defence, Chuck Hagel, also telephoned Howard to congratulate him over his record 16 saves during the World Cup pre-quarterfinal match with Belgium on Wednesday. “Hagel called the US Men’s National Team goalkeeper Tim Howard to thank him for defending the United States of America at the World Cup,” the Pentagon Press Secretary, Rear Adm John Kirby, said. “Hagel congratulated Howard on his record-breaking game and a great run in Brazil. He invited Howard and the entire team to come to the Pentagon later this year. He told Howard that with some training, he could someday become the real secretary of defence,” Kirby said. This was also raised during the daily White House news conference. “For a while after yesterday’s game, and this was on Wikipedia, Tim Howard was identified as ‘Secretary of Defence’. What’s your reaction to the 3,000-plus signatures on the White House blog, “We the People,” calling for Reagan National Airport to be named after Mr. Howard?” a journalist asked the White House Press Secretary, Josh Earnest, during his daily news conference. Given the impressive performance of the American football team in Brazil, Earnest said it was not too hard to imagine that maybe in 2030, for example there might be a US Men’s National Soccer Team that comes to the White House to celebrate an achievement of some kind. “And I suspect that when you are talking to those players, that they may harken back to being 8 or 10 or 12 years old and having watched the 2014 men’s national team and that they will remember the performance of people like Tim Howard and Julian Green and Omar Gonzalez and Graham Zusi, that these players who performed so well this year served as an inspiration to the next generation of American soccer players,” he said. PTI